Tuition Is Only Part Of the Aid Formula

Published: March 27, 1995

To the Editor:

Your report on financial aid budgets at private colleges and universities (news article, March 22) left a false impression that we have only two sources of funding for needy students: endowment specifically restricted to financial aid and tuition payments. Thus your Robin Hood principle -- when the endowments run out we take from the well-off Peters to pay for the needy Pauls. But your premise is not true.

Alumni giving at consortium schools covers much of the financial aid budget from year to year. Earnings from general endowments, in virtually every case, cover the rest. Colleges and universities have unified budgets, with many revenue sources, including tuition. It is arbitrary to say tuition supports any particular expenditure when it contributes to them all.

At Amherst, and many other schools, no student pays full cost. We spend much more than we charge on every student, so even our wealthiest students receive a subsidy.

You can come up with a fraction by putting financial aid budgets over tuition revenues. But that tells you little about our budgets or our efforts to open our doors to all who can benefit from the education we offer. TOM GERETY Amherst, Mass., March 24, 1995 The writer, president of Amherst College, is chairman of Consortium on Financing Higher Education.